Improvement in wood-splitters



UNITED STATES GEORGE B. FOWLER,

PATENT OFFICE..

OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 53,289, dated March 20,1866.

To all whom fit may concern Beit known that I, GEORGE B. FOWLER, of thecity, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and ImprovedMachine for Splitting Kindling-Wood 5 and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which willenable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure l is a side view of my invention; Fig.2, a horizontal section of the same, taken in the line m x, Fig. l; Fig.3, a transverse vertical section of the same, taken in the line y y,Figs. l and 2.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

This invention is designed for splitting small pieces of wood into nestrips suitable for kindling res; and it consists in having a knifeattached to or formed on a lever provided with a handle and a shiftingfulcrumpin, the several parts being constructed in such a manner thatthe wood may be split when placed upright on the base of the machine, orwhen laid horizontallyT thereon, and also broken transversely afterbeing split.

The object of the invention is to obtain a small device for householdpurposes, one which may be used by a domestic for reducing or splittinga small stick into fine portions which will readily ignite.

A represents the base of the machine, which has an upright, B, attachedto one end of it, said upright being slotted vertically to receive oneend of a lever, O, through which and the upright B a pin, D, passes. Theupright B has a series of holes, a, made in it, one above the other,through any of which the pin D may pass, according to the height it isdesired to have the lever G, and the 1ever O has two or more holes, b,made in it,

4through any of which the pin D may pass, ac-

cording to the leverage required.

The lever O is provided with a handle, E, at its outer end, or-said endmay be soformed that it will serve for a handle. This lever may beconstructed of iron, and it has aknife, F, secured to it in any propermanner. The preferable Inode would be to have the knife secured to thelever in such a manner that it may be detached when necessary for theconvenience of sharpening or for having a new one attached in its stead.The knife extends down from the under side of the lever O, and it hastwo cutting edges, c d, one, c, at its lower part or edge, and theother, d, at its front part, as shown in Fig. 1.

The side of the upright B which faces the knife F is hollowed out, asshown at ctx, (see Fig. 3,) so as to form a concave surface, and thissurface extends nearly the whole height or length of the upright TheLipper surface of the base A, from about its center to its outer end, iscut down so as to be about one-half the thickness ofthe other part, asshown at e.

The wood to be split is placed endwise on the base A, underneath theknife F, the lever O being adjusted higher or lower in the upright B tosuit the length of the sticks, and adjusted longitudinally according tothe leverage required. The sticks are split one at a time by pressingdown the lever O, the stick being held by one hand and the leveroperated by the other. The small pieces are then broken or cut into twoor more parts transversely by placing them horizontally against theupright B, between it and the cutting-edge d of the knife, and pressingdown the lever C.

In the event of the sticks being too long to split in an uprightposition they may be placed horizontally on the base A with one endbearing against the lower part of the upright B; and in order to preventthe hand coming in contact with the base A under the low downwardmovement of the lever O, the upper surface of the base is cut down, aspreviously described.

The device may be constructed at a very moderate cost and will prove tobe a valuable acquisition for the purpose, dispensing with the use ofthe hatchet in the house, which frequently destroys a hearth, cuts thecarpet, oil-cloth, or ooring, besides occasioning considerable noise andloosening the plastering of a ceiling below it.

In order to prevent the cutting-edge c of the knife F from coming incontact with the base A, I have a slit, bx, made in the latter, intowhich the knife enters when the lever O is forced down to its fullestextent.

Having thus described my invention, I wish it to be understood thatIdonot claim, broadly, with the lever G, when used for the purpose aknife attached to a lever for splitting kindof a wood-splitting device,in the manner and ling-Wood, for that has been previously used; for thepurpose herein specified. but GEO. B. FOWLER.

I do claim as new and desire to secure by Vitnesses: Letters Patent- Thedouble-edged knife F, in Combination M. M. LIVINGSTON, ALEX. F. ROBERTS.

